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A Simple Plan

Synopsis

Sometimes good people do evil things.

Captivated by the lure of sudden wealth, the quiet rural lives of two brothers erupt into conflicts of greed, paranoia and distrust when over $4 million in cash is discovered at the remote site of a downed small airplane. Their simple plan to retain the money while avoiding detection opens a Pandora's box when the fear of getting caught triggers panicked behavior and leads to virulent consequences

There's a stark, corrosive sadness seeping through A Simple Plan like blood freezing in snow. Upper Midwestern Noir so black and so cold that it could take digits off extremities without any the wiser. The spectre looming above, behind it all is economic collapse: foreclosure, unemployment, neurological difficulty, isolation, loneliness. The people of A Simple Plan are presented directly, warmly, without irony or condescension, so that when the bad stuff starts going around, it hurts and it keeps hurting, a dull ache which sharpens to acuity now and again. Scott Smith adapted his novel into this screenplay, so its voice is both preserved and fluidly translated to the screen. Raimi's direction may be career-best to that point, pulled back behind…

Something bothered me as I started to read Scott B. Smith's first novel, the 1993 thriller entitled "A Simple Plan." By the time I finished the first chapter, I knew what it was: the writing style.

To begin, the opening 12 pages have no "hook" to capture and keep the reader's attention. The telling is flat, historical, emotionless. Also, because it is a first-person account of events already long past, there needs to be a reason to like, or at least believe, the narrator. In this case, rural Ohio accountant Hank Mitchell tells us outright that he often acts "without really thinking" and he "had no feel for the weight of…

Like Fargo without the dark humor, A Simple Plan is a lean, emotional and morally complex tale of backwoods classicism. It's Raimi at his most restrained, rejecting his traditional hyped-up camera movements and comical effects, and instead creating living, thoroughly developed characters in genuine ethical conflict. It's an authentic and believable exploration of the events that would follow three ordinary guys finding 4 million dollars with no strings attached, lacking the hyperbolic reactions and dramatic fluctuations that plague so many films trying to tell the same story. It's a story of bending values, flexible convictions and tenuous trust, set against the general thematic elements of greed, horror, guilt and murder.…

"Nobody would ever believe that you'd be capable of doing what you've done."

One of Sam Raimi's forgotten gems before he was given the Spider-Man job. A Simple Plan is Fargo without the quirky characters and pitch-black humour but instead you get something, while similar in plot, a lot darker and a little bit more disturbing in it's characterizations.

Perfectly cast, Bill Paxton excels as Hank Mitchell, the small-town gentlemanly nobody and a father-to-be who's temptation for a better existence clouds his usual morally-sound judgement when he finds 4 million dollars in a crashed plane. Soon, under pressure from his mentally-challenged brother (Billy Bob Thornton, brilliant), his drunk red-neck buddy and his manipulating wife (Bridget Fonda), Hank makes a serious…

I miss the days where people like Bill Paxton or Jeff Goldblum or Val Kilmer or Kurt Russell or Sam Neill or Alec Baldwin or Woody Harrelson were all considered leading men. That time was the 90s and I'm nostalgic as fuck for it. Also, awe-inspiring snow photography in this film. No doubt that Raimi consulted with the Coens on some secret pointers. Sure paid off.

Two brothers and a friend take a drive on New Year's Eve. Run down truck. Dog in the back. It's around midday when when they reach a nature preserve. Woods to the left. Farm to the right. One narrow, snow-covered road splitting them up. A fox emerges, fresh out the henhouse, prey in its mouth. The truck swerves, crashes, dog jumps out to chase the critter into the woods and the men follow. An inconvenience, a disagreement, a snowball toss and a discovery...A grand discovery and a morbid one. The plane wreckage is iced over and the pilot is dead, but the duffel bag is untouched. Its contents are toxic: $4.4 million. Grins, laughter, disbelief. The scene is pure fantasy,…

A rare serious and dramatic effort from Sam Raimi, A Simple Plan is also arguably one of his very best films, with a great script, wonderful performances, involving characters, smart storytelling, and meticulous direction.

I know there is a really good movie here but I found all of the characters very annoying. Bill Paxton was one notch from "Game Over Man!" throughout this thing. I understand that the characters are under a lot of pressure due to the circumstances but it was just too much. I do give it credit for going all the way to the end with its premise and not having a cheap out for its characters.

I fell in love with this movie when it first came out. The story is one of those perfect "what would YOU do in this situation" kind of things. The way events spiral out of control for these character is just intense and sad and awesome. Billy Bob Thornton is amazing.

Scott Smith's A Simple Plan is a great suspense novel, I read it in three days and that's pretty impressive when you have a 9 month baby who steals all your focus. I haven't seen Sam Raimi's adaption since it was released and back then I was just dissapointed that it wasn't a horror movie, which was pretty much the only genre he was known for at the time. Looking at it now, after he made many more movies of different categories and the same day I finished the novel I feel different towards the movie. It's a damn fine adaption with a great crowd of actors (Billy Bob Thornton is amazing!) and it makes me miss Bridget Fonda, realising…